She handed the test to Brock. He looked at it, confused.
"What does purple mean?" He asked, hoping it meant negative.
"Well, blue means it's positive and pink is negative. I guess purple is somewhere in between." She said while picking everything up. She was uncontrollably shaking.
"So you're half pregnant?" He asked, noticing that she was still nervous.
"No it means we got a crappy test. Now I have to make a doctor's appointment." She said as she picked up the phone, abandoning her previous chore of cleaning. She silently thanked God that her doctor's office was open on Saturdays.
An hour and a half later Brock and Reba were sitting in the waiting room. She had just had her test run and was still waiting for the results. He sat stalk still squeezing her hand lightly. She silently bounced her leg.
"You know Brock, at one month you usually don't get morning sickness. That tends to take a while to kick in. This could just be a false alarm." She said, trying to calm herself down.
"Don't freak yourself out any more than you already have." He said. "The doctor should be out here soon.
As if Brock's words were some sort of summoning, the doctor walked out to them. Since they were the only ones in the waiting room, he told them the news there. Reba was thankful for this because she wasn't sure if her legs could carry her.
"Mrs. Hart I know how nervous you are, but you can relax. You're not pregnant."
The tension immediately left their bodies. This was like a breath of fresh air. Not pregnant.
"Wait so what is wrong with her?" Brock said, being the first one out of the state of shock.
"Mrs. Hart, have you been under an extreme amount of stress?"
"Well at work, yeah, but what does that have to do with pregnancy?"
"Stress can do some crazy things to a person. It could have affected your cycle which affected your stomach which led you to believe you were pregnant." Said the doctor.
Brock and Reba sat there staring at him for a moment. She then spoke up, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." She said hotly.
"It may be stupid, but that's what happened." Said the doctor. "Just make sure to keep your stress at a minimum. Take a few days off of work or something."
"You do have your vacation week next week." Said Brock.
"Perfect. Just settle down, Mrs. Hart. Have a nice vacation." He said and then he walked back through his door.
Brock turned and hugged Reba. They clung to one another for what seemed like hours. When they broke apart he looked into her eyes. They were full of relief.
"Let's go home." He said and kissed her softly.
It was after three o'clock when they arrived home. When they walked through the door, they found Barbara Jean sitting on the couch.
"Barbara Jean, how many times have I told you..." Reba started, but was quickly cut off.
"Oh, blah, blah, blah." Said Barbara Jean. "I can't stay long. I'm only here to give you an invitation to my wedding and Brock his mail. Here." She said, handing them both what she came to give. "I just wanted to make sure I gave you this invitation personally, Reba. Just in case you claim that you didn't get it."
"Barbara Jean, I would never do that." She said.
"Hey, I'm just making sure." She replied. They all three stood in silence for a moment. Brock and Barbara Jean still weren't too comfortable around each other. "Well I better get going." She finally said, as she made her way to the door. "Reba, we need to hang out sometime."
"Sure, I'll call you." Reba said, and then she closed the door behind Barbara Jean.
"Wow, I've never heard you say you'd call her to hang out." Brock said while walking over and sitting on the couch.
"Like I'm going to call her." She said, giggling. He laughed too and began to look through his mail. She joined him on the couch and put her head on his shoulder.
"It's good to hear you laugh." He said to her.
"Yeah, I guess that hasn't been happening too much here lately, huh?"
"Well you're on vacation this week so I hope to hear more of it." He said, eliciting a smile from her. They sat still for a moment.
"I'm sorry for putting you through all this." She said sincerely. He looked at her, confused. "You know, the Jack thing and the stuff today?"
"Do you know how many times you've been here for me? I'm just happy to return the favor. Plus, this is the kind of thing you do for people when you love them."
"Shh, Jake may be home." She said, hoping nobody would hear him say those kinds of things to her. They were still platonic as far as everyone else was concerned.
"Is he ever here?" Brock asked, amused. He stopped laughing when he saw his divorce papers staring back at him.
"What's wrong?" Reba asked, noticing the delay in laughter.
"My divorce papers. I'm just surprised they came so soon." He said.
Reba didn't know what to say. She was sad for the fact that their marriage was ending, but she desperately wanted to be with him. She finally asked, "Is this good or bad?"
"I don't know. Part of me wants to be sad that my marriage is over." He said, but then stopped.
"And the other part?" She asked, urging him on.
He smiled kind of mischievously before adding, "And the other part wants to rip your clothes off and have my way with you right here."
Her head quickly snapped up at him with a shocked expression on her face. He then attacked her mouth with his, tossing his mail on the table. She pulled him closer by wrapping her arms around his neck. He began to bite at her bottom lip. They broke apart when the back door opened. Someone was in the kitchen. Reba jumped up off the couch quickly and walked into the kitchen.
"Cheyenne, what are you doing here?" She inquired, slightly out of breath.
"Don't sound so happy to see me mom." Cheyenne replied, laughing a little bit. She was now about five and a half months pregnant and getting bigger every day. She moved across the kitchen and hugged her mom.
"Sorry honey. I'm just surprised to see you." She said, pulling away from her daughter's hug. "You don't come around as much as you used to. Are you hungry or anything?"
"No I'm fine. I just wanted to know if you wanted to come shopping with me today. I need some new maternity clothes." She said, placing her hand on her stomach.
Reba just smiled at her daughter. "Of course I will. I'll just go tell your dad that I'm leaving and I'll be right back." She said as she walked into the living room to do just that. She hoped Cheyenne wasn't looking when Brock gave her a quick kiss goodbye.
She returned to the kitchen with her purse and they made their way to the mall. Since it was a Saturday evening, the mall was packed. They quickly got some new clothes for Cheyenne and sat down in the food court for drinks.
"Wow, we really should have rethought where we went today." Said Reba, giggling. "This place is packed"
"I know." Cheyenne replied. "But thanks for coming with me. I'm having a blast."
"Me too. We should have mother daughter days more often." They continued to sip their drinks.
Cheyenne was very curious as to what her parents were up to. She saw them kiss before they left the house. Were they getting back together? Before she could stop her bluntness, she asked, "So how long have you and dad been sleeping together?"
Reba choked a little on her drink. She then looked at Cheyenne in complete horror.
"Cheyenne I'm not sleeping with your father." She said, maybe a little too loudly.
"But you want to right?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, but we need to get away from this subject now."
Cheyenne could tell that her mother was nervous, but she had to know what was going on.
"Mom, you may want to pretend that nothing is going on, but I'm not blind. I saw him kiss you when I was in the kitchen." She said.
Reba's head shot up. No! She couldn't know. They hadn't even talked about a relationship yet. This had to be kept a secret.
"Cheyenne listen. Your father and I have been talking and we feel that maybe we could give 'us' another shot. However, I don't know if this is even going anywhere. You have to promise not to tell anyone. Not even Van."
"No, I won't tell, but wow." She said, a little shocked that her accusation was right. "Mom, are you sure this is what you want?"
"To tell you the truth, yeah." She said, almost thankful to have someone to talk about this with. "But there are a lot of things we have to clear up and straighten out first."
"I understand." Cheyenne said, getting slightly giddy about the fact that her mom and dad were going to try to be together again. Everybody could see that they still loved each other, it was just something that nobody talked about.
They finished shopping and drove home. Cheyenne agreed to keep their little talk a secret and gave her mother her blessings. Reba was relieved that she took this all so well. She walked into the house to find Brock on the couch, in his pajamas, watching TV.
"Hey." He said as she walked in. "I missed you."
She smiled. "I missed you too." She said. "Is Jake here?"
He looked at her with a smile. "Do you really have to ask that question? He's at Luke's house."
She joined him on the couch. "So we have the house all to ourselves?"
He looked at her. "I guess we do." He said with a small hint in his voice.
"Good because we need to talk."
Talk? That is definitely not what he had in mind.
"Sure. You go first." He said
"Well, first things first. Cheyenne knows everything."
"You told her?"
"No she saw you kiss me goodbye. I told her to keep it a secret until you and I have had a chance to talk."
"Okay." He said before he laid his thoughts out for her. "I love you and I never want to let you go. I think we should start dating."
"Well duh, Brock." She said, giggling. "I think we both understand that, but what about the future? Can I really trust you with my heart again?"
"You have to have seen how sorry I am for that. I've told you a million times. I love you. I want you. Please just give me one more chance to make you love me with all your heart. I'll do anything for you. Please. Give me your heart like I've given you mine." He almost pleaded.
She looked at him and smiled softly. "I think I just did." She said. And with that he kissed her passionately. However, before things went too far, she stopped him.
"But no love making yet." She said and gave him a peck on the lips. She then stood up and began walking up the stairs. "Goodnight." She called behind her and disappeared.
'This is going to be a long night.' He thought before he locked the doors and went to bed himself.